Click-Click-Click
"I'm so full…."
Was it because the hamburgers were free? It felt like I'd eaten about twice as much as usual. That said, my limit had still only been one burger combo plus an order of cheese balls.
Patting my stuffed belly, I headed home for the first time in two days. Back at the Academy, Tania and Adele had told me they'd completely overhauled the floors, walls, and even the ceiling, and stocked the place with everything I might need. The things I'd bought with Tania were probably sitting inside by now, too.
Really — where else could you find friends who'd go this far for just one person? They say even a single true friend means you've lived a successful life, and I had two of them. On top of that, both of them were ridiculously pretty. Wasn't I the happiest person in the world? And it wasn't just my friends — I myself was a flawlessly perfect human being. Beautiful, great figure, kind, and smart to boot. A perfectly successful life…!
Lost in those thoughts as I walked, I soon found myself standing in front of my place. I was grateful to Tania and Adele, of course, but I wasn't exactly expecting much. It was still a crumbling semi-basement apartment — how different could it really look just from a remodel and some new furniture?
Click.
The higher your expectations, the greater the disappointment — so I opened the door without hoping for anything at all.
"……."
Taking in the scene inside, I quietly shut my mouth and pulled out my phone. Then I frantically fired off a message to the group chat I shared with Tania and Adele.
I started typing the next message, paused to look around the room again, then finished moving my fingers across the screen.
"Hold on…."
It was so absurd that I answered out loud without meaning to.
"How exactly do you make a semi-basement this spacious……."
The room that used to be almost completely filled just by me lying down had grown to roughly the size of the place I'd lived in before possessing this body. This wasn't a mere doubling. Almost… eight times bigger?
"Haa……."
I let out a sigh, then messaged Tania this time.
She must have been watching my conversation with Adele, because the reply came instantly.
The design wasn't the problem. I was the one receiving free furniture — I was in no position to complain about aesthetics. The problem was the price of the replacements. I'd deliberately bought the cheapest options I could find so Tania wouldn't be burdened, and she'd swapped every single one for pieces that cost at least five times as much.
That felt wrong, so I was in the middle of typing that I'd pay her back someday when both of them — as if they'd predicted exactly what I'd say — sent messages at the same time.
"Ugh……."
In the end I typed back that I understood, then flopped face-first onto the new bed Tania had bought me. A plush softness completely different from my old, worn-out blanket wrapped around my body.
Even if those two said it was fine, I would pay this debt back someday. Even if it took my whole life…! No matter what it took…!
Click-click-click.
"So cute…!"
"Isn't it?"
I was fiddling with a brand-new utility knife that had just come into the shop in front of my building when the owner lady came over and struck up a conversation.
"How much is this?"
"Normally a knife like that runs about five thousand won, but since you're such a pretty student, I'll specially let you have it for three thousand!"
"Wow, really? Thank you so much!"
I handed over the crumpled thousand-won bills I'd been carrying in my pocket and bought the new cutter. It was similar to an industrial utility knife, but a little smaller, with a cleaner look. And the sliding sound when you extended the blade was much quieter than other cutters.
Click-click-click-click.
"Hehe."
That was all the noise it made. And more than anything, the design was incredibly cute…! Little red gemstones were set into the white handle in the shape of a flower!
Honestly, wasn't this cutter made exclusively for me? It matched my hair and eye color perfectly…!
"If they catch me with it, they'll definitely confiscate it… right?"
Tania and Adele seemed to hate it when I cut my own wrists. I genuinely didn't want to worry them, either, so it would be better to hide the fact that I was carrying a cutter at all whenever possible.
I tucked the knife deep into my pocket and made a silent resolution. Unless I actually needed to use it, I would never take it out.
Click-click. Click-click-click-click.
"Hehe."
Click. Click. Click-click-click.
I was sitting in class, repeatedly extending and retracting the cutter blade just for fun. The sound was surprisingly pleasant to listen to….
As always, my classmates kept their distance, watching me only from afar. You'd think a beauty of my caliber would make someone want to come talk to me at least once. Was this cutter really the only ally I had in this classroom…?
"Elysiaaa."
Squeeze.
A small-framed girl wrapped her arms around me from behind.
"Hm? Luna?"
Over the past two days, I'd gotten pretty close with Luna as well. Or rather — had we always been close…? Either way, I'd adapted to a certain degree. Not that there was much adapting to do. Aside from striking up conversation once or twice, Luna was almost always asleep. She'd usually nestle into my arms, exchange a few words, then drift off — or pull out the pillow she kept in her desk drawer and use that.
A completely unpredictable person….
And in the meantime, I'd also gotten quite close with her twin younger sister, Rina. Luna was awake so rarely that I'd actually talked with Rina more than with Luna herself.
I'd been shocked to learn that Luna and Rina were twins yet in different grade levels. When I asked why, it turned out Luna's birthday was December 31st and Rina's was January 1st. Being the older one by a technicality, Rina would have been within her rights to drop the formal speech with me — but she never once complained, and consistently called me unnie.
"What were you doing?"
Luna, still hugging me from behind as I sat, asked the question. Given the position, it felt like she was whispering right into my ear.
I must have sensitive ears….
I'd noticed it ever since Adele bit my ear — whenever something directly stimulated my ears, or a soft sound brushed against them, my body would twitch and tremble all on its own. Absolutely no one could be allowed to find this out! Someone might get kidnapped, get tortured, and spill that my weakness was my ears. From now on, I'd be careful not to let my body shake.
"…Elysia?"
"Hm?"
Only when the voice tickled my ear a second time did I snap back to reality. Looking at Luna, who had her chin resting on my shoulder, I found her gazing at me through half-lidded eyes.
"What were you doing?"
"Oh — I just really like this new cutter I bought."
"A cutter? Hmm……."
Luna made a nasal little sound as she eyed my utility knife with interest.
"Well? Isn't it pretty?"
"It is pretty."
"Look at this! The sound is really nice, too."
Click-click-click-click-click.
I demonstrated the sound of the blade sliding out. Luna, who had been staring only at my face instead of the cutter I was showing off, murmured:
"You're right. It is really nice."
Then she let go of the arms she'd wrapped around me and relocated herself onto my lap.
"I'm gonna sleep."
"Okay."
By now I was so used to holding a sleeping Luna that I could do other things without waking her. Moving carefully so she wouldn't be uncomfortable, I slid the cutter deep into my pocket and pulled out my phone instead.
Actually accepting commissions required going to the Association in person, but looking up which requests were still available — and which ones had been completed yesterday — was something I could do from here.
Whose lives should I end today?
The main story was about to kick off soon, so I needed to move in ways that would make things easier for Siyun and Carmen. In How to Become a Hero, the first major incident to erupt was directly connected to the terrorist-suppression case that had allowed those two to enroll in the Academy. A terror organization that had lost several of its key operatives would come after them for revenge. Civilians would get caught in the crossfire, and Siyun would push herself too hard and get hurt — so I really wanted to intervene if I could….
Even for someone like me, taking on the whole organization alone was impossible. But this terror group, Bind, was like any other villain syndicate — scattered and hidden across multiple bases….
Bind had roughly eight bases in total. Couldn't I handle two or three of them? That would be a significant blow — civilian casualties would drop dramatically, and Siyun wouldn't have to overexert herself as much as she did in the original.
So for the next commission, I'd take out a few of Bind's executives….
Bind wasn't a small organization, so this time the payout would be pretty substantial. Enough to order not just hamburgers, but pizza and chicken too — and invite Tania and Adele over for a party…! Enough to buy hundreds of Koko-chi skewers and stockpile them at home…!
Was I… secretly rich, if you looked at it the right way?
I was already perfect. If I were rich on top of that, it would genuinely be a problem….